1974 Dodge Dart Sport rebuild

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Today was also wash day.

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I guess I need a spray booth. Ordered up the fans, intake and exhaust filters, plastic, lumber, and assorted fasteners. Have to kinda wing this build as I may have to angle the lights to get the look I want and I might have to adjust the intake filter square footage to get the booth air turn overs I need. I did not put the final coat of high build on the main body portion as I figured I would use the booth to see how the system removes the overspray. Testing, I guess. Anyway, started to clean out the corner that will be the new booth.

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Almost forgot! If you know me at all, you probably know that I really like the factory markings the car got as it went down the line. I still don't know what they all mean but I find them interesting to say the least. While cleaning up the Dart's driveshaft I found some. Now I just need to find out what color that driveshaft was. Chassis black I would guess, but I will look it up.

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re the booth, you need twice the filter area for intake as you have on the extraction filters. it stops dust coming in from any tiny gaps you may have missed in the booth construction. you probably knew that but just in case. :thumbsup:
neil.
 
Thanks Neil, for the info. I have done the air flow calculations for the booth using the cubic feet of the booth and the CFM of the fans. The fan CFM is supposed to be 3 times the cubic feet of the booth. That's not happening! LOL The booth is 24x14x13.5 so 4,536 cubic feet and the fans equal 6400 CFM unrestricted. Once the filters go in I will be happy if I get 5000 CFM. It is what it is, so I will work with it. Sprayed a few cars with only box fans going in the windows so this is an UPGRADE! Progress I guess. I agree with you that if there is not enough air coming through the filters, the air will be sucked in through every little gap there is. That would not be good! I can always add more fans, but that adds $$$$ and the "making money" part of this resto has long since been sucked out of the booth!
 
all anyone can do is work with what they have, in your case fan size. things get very expensive very fast if we're not careful and in the case of a spray booth that won't get used commercially we just have to build as best as our budget allows and go for it. i'll be making a temporary booth in one of my garages/workshops when the time comes to paint my gasser, at least that gives me time to buy parts and pieces when they come along at good prices before then.
neil.
 

This will take a little more time to figure out. First pic and I would have gone with the shaft not being painted at all. No paint under the factory markings. Further back on the shaft it looks to have been painted black before this mark was put on. IDK Maybe I will just have to spring for the all knowing book of Mopar assembly. Or call Mark Worman, he would know! LOL Probably just spray it black.

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Great thread and very good progress.
Just as an FYI, after scrubbing and power washing my K-frame, I found a local powder coating guy that did my K for $100 including sandblasting. Well worth the money and it was done in a week.
 
Time for some Acid! Not the acid from the late 70's; nope, the good stuff that eats rust and pot metal. This stuff:

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I use it full strength, but don't put any light metal in it unless you are ready to pull it out right away, or it will dissolve. I found out the hard way.

Anyway, it does a great job. I usually dip stuff for 10 minutes, then move it to a tub with a lot of baking soda mixed in water. Four or the big boxes will work. And after a 5 minute soak I move the part to clean water to make sure all the acid is neutralized. Being under water will also stop the part from flash rusting. I can then take parts out one at a time and blow dry them. From what I have seen, this stuff will not remove grease. So what does it look like?

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Time for some Acid! Not the acid from the late 70's; nope, the good stuff that eats rust and pot metal. This stuff:

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I use it full strength, but don't put any light metal in it unless you are ready to pull it out right away, or it will dissolve. I found out the hard way.

Anyway, it does a great job. I usually dip stuff for 10 minutes, then move it to a tub with a lot of baking soda mixed in water. Four or the big boxes will work. And after a 5 minute soak I move the part to clean water to make sure all the acid is neutralized. Being under water will also stop the part from flash rusting. I can then take parts out one at a time and blow dry them. From what I have seen, this stuff will not remove grease. So what does it look like?

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Gotta say, that turned out well! I've used it it motorcycle tanks before but you have to make sure you neutralize it well as you said. How many gallons in the bucket?
 
Gotta say, that turned out well! I've used it it motorcycle tanks before but you have to make sure you neutralize it well as you said. How many gallons in the bucket?
I can look when I get back home but I would guess those blue buckets have about 10 gallons of water in them. The one to neutralize has about 14 lbs of baking soda mixed into that 10 gal of water. I can give the exact amounts tomorrow. I finished the last piece I need to acid clean so I then dump the acid into the neutralization bucket (very slowly as it foams a lot). I then let it sit overnight before checking the PH with a pool test strip. Once it balanced, I can dump it out back.
 
The blue buckets are 21 gallons and I had them a little over half full. I used the large bag (13.5 lbs) of baking soda for the neutralization bucket. In the acid tote I used 4 gallons as that is what was needed to cover the drums, etc. Clean water in the other bucket where the parts soak. I changed out the water every 24 hours to make sure all the acid is off the parts.

When I was done, I neutralize the acid by dumping it in the neutralization bucket (it will foam). When I tested it the PH was a little high so I added another large box of baking soda. That did the trick and I was able to dump it.

The last pic shows the parts as they are tonight, on their second rinse. Once more tomorrow and I should be able to dry them off. The black residue is simply grease that the acid did not touch.

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I know why they came up with this (trying to avoid installing air bags) but it was subject to so much failure that it was quickly bypassed. Like one of the PO's did. Now I have to remove his/her modifications, removing the blue jumper wires and toggle switch, and installing another bypass that is not seen and that does not require any user input. My understanding is that this safety belt interlock was only used in 1974. Fun to be had by all! Almost forgot, Happy Easter!

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Here is my suggestion to bypass the interlock and make it invisible:

There should be 2 yellow wires in the bulkhead connectors. Swap those 2 and the start signal will go to the starter relay instead of the interlock circuit board. Shouldn't matter which side of the firewall you make the change on, but I would suggest the passenger compartment side just because it will be harder to tell.

The other option is to leave the seat belt's unplugged.

Let me know if you want wire locations on the bulkhead and I will dig them out.

Great build, impressive work.
 
The wife and I were able to get some work done on the paint booth. It has been hot so the progress has been slow, but steady. Above the door are where the intake filters will go. Eight 20 x 20 sticky filters. The fans will go on the back wall, down low, so it should draft in a downward flow. Got the crank and heads back this morning. They only had to take the crank to 10M 10R.

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Plastic is up, except for the filter wall and doors. Every other stud is taped and stapled. Scaffolding is down and put away, the rest I can get off ladders. I will line the inside with some white sheeting to brighten it up. The exhaust fans arrived today so a little wiring is needed. Soon, very soon. May just have to make this permanent, just need some sheathing on the outside.

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Plastic is up, except for the filter wall and doors. Every other stud is taped and stapled. Scaffolding is down and put away, the rest I can get off ladders. I will line the inside with some white sheeting to brighten it up. The exhaust fans arrived today so a little wiring is needed. Soon, very soon. May just have to make this permanent, just need some sheathing on the outside.

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Man, that is the cat's pajamas! Is that going to be permanent or just temporary? Love how much space you have in your shop to work. I can barely squeeze around the sides of my car!
 
Man, that is the cat's pajamas! Is that going to be permanent or just temporary? Love how much space you have in your shop to work. I can barely squeeze around the sides of my car

Permanent or not, I have not decided yet. The fans will be, as I have to cut holes in the wall and wire them up. The booth takes up a lot of room, but I could always just leave a car in there so it is out of the way. The challenger was pushed into this corner for over a year so I guess I really didn't need the space. Guess we will have to see how well it works first. So to answer your question, IDK.
 
you could add polystyrene insulation between the studs and a second sheet of clear plastic inside. the insulation is white for good light and the plastic adds another layer of draught proofing. most important is lots of led lights, oh and more led lights, lol. :thumbsup:
neil.
 
The last of the rough framing plastic was put up. The doors still need to be built and hung. I test fit two of the ten filters and they fit just fine. The carb came back today, serviced and ready to go. Still moving forward!

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keep a look out for some cheap ply/osb sheets to add to the lower half of the exterior. it'll prevent any splits/tears in the plastic sheeting. even if you only lay the sheets lengthways it'll protect the lower 4 feet. :thumbsup:
neil.
 
I had this foam for the walls, that I had not put up yet. I guess I can use it in the booth for now. It is fairly cheap so if it gets a little yellow, not a big deal.

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I thought this rotor was too far gone but I guess they were never turned before so there was enough material left to clean it up, the other one was not bad at all. I would much rather have the original rotors than the China junk you get now.


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